Boris Grigoriev,
Russian 1886-1939
 
У палатки (At the Tent), circa 1913;

Boris Grigoriev,

Russian 1886-1939

У палатки (At the Tent), circa 1913;

gouache, 64.5 x 44cm (unframed)

Provenance: Pre-revolutionary collection of Alexander E. Burtsev; Private collection, London.

Literature: Alexander Evgenievich Burtsev, 'My Journal for the Few', 1914, vol. 9, issue 12; Boris Dmitrievich Grigoriev and his Artistic Work. From the collection of Alexander Evgenyevich Burtsev. Vol. 6, St. Petersburg, 1914.

Note: The Moscow born artist was the illegitimate son of a banker and anaristocratic mother. In 1906 he began studying at the Stroganov School of Art and Industry, where he studied under the artist Dmitry Shcherbinovsky. Grigoriev exhibited at the Union of Impressionists, citing Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh and Andre Derain as influences.

Grigoriev returned to St. Petersburg in 1913, the year it is believed this work was painted and he quickly immersed himself into the St. Petersburg bohemian scene, mixing with many artists and writers of the time, includingSergey Sudeykin,Velimir Khlebnikov,Anna Akhmatova, Sergei Diaghilev, Konstantin Somov and Leon Baskt. Throughout his oeuvre he experimented with materials, initially favouring charcoal and graphite on paper, before switching to works in vibrantly coloured oils, gouache and tempera on canvas. Russian countryside, itspeople, village life and his travels around the world played a big role in the narrative of his works.

The essence of Grigorievs early work is encapsulated in At the Tent. According to the Grigoriev specialist, Tamara Galeeva, the nature of the treatment of the trees, the lines of women's bodies, their expressive poses - all this speaks in favour of 1913, when he began to study trees with a special passion. Another example of Grigorievs study of trees can be found in a sketch, Houses and Trees in the Metropolitan Museum in New York, which bears many similarities to this artwork in the whimsical treatment of the branches of the trees. Furthermore, the treatment of the figures in this artwork are very typical of the artists early experimental style, which saw him focus on dance as subject matter from 1912-1914. One of his most famous depictions of dance being 'At the Ball'.

This particular Grigoriev is from the renowned pre-revolutionary St Petersburg collector Alexander Evgenievich Burtsev, and remained in his collection until the 1917 Revolution.

Burtsev was a Russian bibliophile, bibliographer, publisher, art collector, author of ethnographic works and merchant of the first guild. As an honorary citizen of St. Petersburg, he gathered a large library; while reprinting rare books he also acquired a significant collection of autographs. He arranged exhibitions of his collections and dreamed of founding a museum of new Russian art. Burtsev published journals on his collection 'My Journal for the Few', and it was for volume 9, issue 12 that this particular artwork was executed by Grigoriev. Burtsev also later published a book about the artist, 'Boris Dmitrievich Grigoriev and his Artistic Work'.

With thanks to James Butterwick, Tamara Galeeva and Irina Vakar for their assistance in cataloguing this lot.